Hours after Rahul Gandhi threw a direct question at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to explain the India-China standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), ruling BJP’s MP in Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal took it upon himself to rebut the Congress leader.
Taking a dig at the Defence Minister, Gandhi had on Tuesday tweeted: “Once RM (Rajnath Singh) is done commenting on the hand symbol, can he answer: Have the Chinese occupied Indian territory in Ladakh?”
This came after Rajnath Singh jibed at the Congress party by using its “hand symbol” in a tweaked version of an Urdu poet’s creation on Monday.
However, to Rahul’s question to the Defence Minister, the Ladakh MP responded: “Yes, Chinese occupied Indian Territory as under”.
Further listing areas that he claimed were occupied on Congress watch, Namgyal tweeted: “I hope Rahul Gandhi and Congress will agree with my reply based on facts and hopefully they won’t try to mislead again.”
Namgyal also posted a map that he captioned as an “Overview of Demjok area. Chinese intruded land of India till 2012 during Congress regime (sic)”.
However, following the Ladakh MP’s tweet, Rahul Gandhi today morning targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “The Chinese have walked in and taken our territory in Ladakh. Meanwhile, the PM is absolutely silent and has vanished from the scene.”
There has been no response from PM Modi on the tweet so far.
Meanwhile, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has slammed Rahul Gandhi for seeking information on international matter on social media platforms.
“Rahul Gandhi should know that on international matters, like China, questions should not be asked on Twitter. He is the same man who asked for evidence after Balakot airstrikes and 2016 Uri attack,” Prasad was quoted as saying by ANI.
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that India is the only country after the US and Israel to protect its borders, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a jibe at him, saying “everyone knows the reality of the borders”.
Addressing a public rally in Bihar on Sunday via video conference, Amit Shah had said that after United States of America and Israel, if there is any other country that is able to protect its borders, it is India.
The Congress over the past few weeks, has targeted the Government repeatedly over reports of Chinese incursion and border skirmishes in eastern Ladakh.
On June 3, Rahul Gandhi had questioned the Central government over the military standoff with China in Ladakh. He had tweeted: “Can the government of India please confirm that no Chinese soldiers have entered India?”
On May 29, the former Congress president had said that the Government must come clean and tell India exactly what’s happening between India and China.
Rahul Gandhi had on May 26 as well, said that the Government should come out clean on the situation arising at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and inform the citizens about what is happening there.
Several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim have witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese armies recently, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs.
The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on the evening of May 5 which spilled over to the next day before the two sides agreed to “disengage” following a meeting at the level of local commanders.
The trigger for the face-off was China’s opposition to India laying a key road in the finger area around Pangong Tso Lake, besides construction of another road connecting Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.